


Reasons to be nice

by snekwami



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Friendship, I just wanted to write a fic about chloe and kim being wingwoman/wingman for each other, M/M, Sort of fake dating, chloe is a useless lesbian and kim is a disaster bi, chloe tries to be nice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-13
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-02-01 15:16:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12707550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snekwami/pseuds/snekwami
Summary: To the world, Chloé and Kim are the ultimate power couple. In reality? It's the ultimate cover-up for helping each other with their unexpected crushes on other people. And perhaps while trying to win Marinette's heart, Chloé can win back Adrien's friendship too.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's 2AM, don't judge me ;_;

Chloé Bourgeois was such a nice person these days. No more being rude, no more putting people down, no more unnecessary antagonizing these pitiful classmates of hers. No – from now on, she was good. Better than good, in fact. The best!

At least, as long as Adrien thought so, that was what mattered. It was hard to bear the feeling of ruining her perfect, too-good-for-anyone-else reputation that she had worked so hard to cultivate for the past several years. But for Adrien? She would do anything. There was no way she was going to lose her childhood best friend, and especially not for something that would be so easy to fix.

Most things were tolerable. Saying “thank you” to Rose for those cupcakes and then quietly disposing of them later, as opposed to pushing them back at her and sneering that she would never eat something so sickly and repulsive. Getting her butler Jean-whatever-his-name-was to do her homework instead and giving Sabrina a break for once. (He was on her payroll after all, so he might as well.) Saying “excuse me” and waiting for whoever it was to move out of the way first, rather than shoving them aside.

Some things were much harder. Seeing Marinette get all the attention for designing some hideous new dress or something made her feel furious enough to want to punch a wall, though she would never bruise her flawless fingers by actually doing it. And anyway, such a dress would look so much better on _her!_ How could Marinette have made it for _Juleka???_ That morbid stick insect would never be able to pull off such a colour! Did Marinette just not have eyes or something, honestly?

That was not the worst part of Chloé’s pact to be nicer, though. The worst part was Kim. That panther-challenging lunatic seemed to have taken Chloé’s sudden turn for the better as a sign that he had another chance or something. Her opinion of him hadn’t changed one bit since Valentine’s Day – he was still just some pathetic fool who thought himself much better than he actually was. She would never even think about going out with someone like _that_ , goodness gracious. So far in her life she had never quite found a man good enough for her, and Kim certainly could not change that.

But oh, he just had to ask her again when _Adrien_ was nearby, didn’t he?

A bouquet of flowers – cheap, miserable ones, with clashing colours and already wilting – holding them up at her and asking her, yet again, if she would think about dating him now that she was “kinda nice these days!”

Oh, for heaven’s sake. Couldn’t this boy just take a hint and move on? How could _being akumatized_ not have changed the mind of this absolute dimwit?

The classroom was mostly empty, at least. Perhaps if Adrien hadn’t been here, Chloé would have turned Kim down again without a second thought. That would have been ideal. Just a simple rejection, nothing too harsh, nothing mean. Nice and quick.

But things couldn’t have been ideal, could they? She could see Adrien in the corner of the room, his conversation with Nino on pause as he turned his head to watch what Chloé would do now. His eyebrows were turned up slightly in the centre, his grip on his bag just a little too tight. Was he nervous? It looked as though he were expecting the worst, as though everything that Chloé had been doing for him recently hadn’t been enough to convince him that she really was a good person inside.

She let out a sigh, turning back to look at Kim kneeling in front of her with that ridiculous bouquet and that even more ridiculous hairstyle. The idea of saying yes to him was just so repulsive, on so many levels. But what would Adrien think? If he didn’t think the best of her that he possibly could, then what was even the point of Chloé’s whole “nice girl” personality that she was working so hard on? Would it all go to waste?

Well, everyone knew that she wasn’t _truly_ in love with Adrien. As clingy as she acted, no one was really fooled. Saying yes to Kim wouldn’t change anything in that respect. And anyway, if Kim really did like her that much, then she could order him to stay at arm’s length (or further) all the time and he would do it, so that wouldn’t change too much either. It would be like having another servant, that was all.

Not that she considered Sabrina a servant, of course! Or anyone else for that matter. Kim could be another _sidekick_. There, that was better. He already did everything she ever told him to; it was fine. She was doing this for Adrien. Not for herself. This was a totally selfless action.

“Fine, I suppose it might not be a terrible idea,” she said finally, very carefully trying to sound on the line between nice but unenthusiastic. Delicate acting skills were something of a speciality of hers, considering her father’s position as a prominent politician. Perhaps it would come in handy here to make sure Kim got the idea that she was doing this out of pity, not love.

But of course he didn’t. All that nuance went straight over that thick head of his. He stood up and wrapped her in a gross, sweaty hug, which she quickly pushed herself out of. Being in such close proximity to that horrendously unfashionable hoodie and that rotten excuse for deodorant was _not_ part of the deal, thank you very much. Why were sporty types always so lacking in personal hygiene?

The important thing was to check Adrien’s reaction, of course. Leaning around Kim’s giant stature, trying to look inconspicuous, she watched as Adrien stared at her, frowning somewhat. Then his expression returned to neutral and he resumed his conversation with Nino.

Hmm… he didn’t look happy. But why? Chloé had been kind to Kim for once! Actually accepted his pitiable advances! Surely that had been _nice_ of her, right? Then why was Adrikins not impressed? Were her best efforts still not good enough for him?

“So what now?” Kim asked her.

Ugh. Did he really expect her to just suddenly know what to do when he was the one who asked her out in the first place? All she wanted to do was tell him to go take a shower and avoid any physical exercise for the next forever. But of course, Adrien was still listening probably, and he wasn’t quite happy with her yet. She still had to be extra nice.

“Now I take you shopping for a new hoodie,” she decided. “Something much better than what you’re currently wearing. And we’ll buy you some proper deodorant while we’re at it. And perhaps some cologne, too.”

She snuck another glance at Adrien. He wasn’t even paying attention anymore! Nino had put those awful orange headphones on him and seemed to be playing some music. And now Adrien was smiling properly, his face lit up in a way that she had seen so many times recently – but never directed towards _her_.

Kim was saying something else now, probably something irrelevant, Chloé wasn’t listening. She cut him off halfway.

“Come on, let’s go now and get this over with. Don’t keep me waiting.”

She clicked her fingers and began walking out of the room. Kim quickly followed. Ah, good, he was still doing whatever she told him to. If she could just keep up that dynamic long enough for Adrien to take notice and appreciate her properly, then this might just be tolerable.

 

 

It wasn’t so bad at first. Kim was perfectly willing to carry Chloé’s shopping bags, just as Sabrina had always done. Hoodies looked awful and Chloé certainly wanted to buy Kim something a lot better – if he was going to be her “arm-candy” from now on then he might as well look good – but he had bluntly refused, no matter how much she tried to tell him how unfashionable hoodies were.

“But they’re comfy!”

Comfy, seriously. What was _comfy_ was to not have people gawking at you over your disastrous fashion choices, knowing that when they watched you they were admiring you instead. But still, Kim was annoyingly stubborn, so Chloé just went with the best she could. A new hoodie that looked much better. And more importantly, being fresh and new, didn’t already have a sporty stench to it.

Next she made sure he bought some actual functioning deodorant so that she wouldn’t have the urge to throw up whenever near him for more than two minutes at a time. After that, some perfume (though she guessed he wouldn’t really use it, considering the type of person he was). And then, since they were already in the perfume department, she went on a bit of a spending spree herself. She had a _much_ better taste in perfumes than the class’s resident perfume “expert” Rose, after all, so why not use it?

She might have got a tiny bit carried away. By the time she stopped shopping the stores were closing and Kim was starting to complain about having to get back and do homework. Of course – she’d forgotten that most of her classmates didn’t just get other people to do their homework for them. Poor souls. Why bother putting in the effort? Especially Kim, who was more of an athletic star anyway?

In any case, she had done a fantastic job of being nice today. Said yes to Kim, then taken him out shopping. See? Wasn’t she just such a good person? There was no way Adrien wouldn’t think so! And just to drive home how nice she was, time for some quite literal driving home. She ordered her limo to first drop Kim off at his house, before taking her to her hotel where she could finally take a long shower and relax.

Part of her had been preparing for the absolute worst when it came to saying goodbye to Kim at his doorstep, but she needn’t have worried. It seemed that lugging around her shopping bags all afternoon had zapped his energy, so he didn’t attempt any overly romantic parting adieu. Thank goodness. She might have just dumped him on the spot if he tried anything. That boy was too much of a hopeless romantic for his own good, and she could tell.

On the way back to the hotel she pulled out her phone and sent Adrien a message.

_Just went shopping with my darling boyfriend! xxx_

Ew, just typing out the word “boyfriend” gave her the creeps. Boys were certainly _not_ her preferred romantic partners, even if she was hesitant to yet tell anyone that. But it was a necessary sacrifice for Adrien’s approval.

She refreshed her phone over and over as the limo carried on through the busy Parisian streets. It seemed that Adrien had read her message but just hadn’t replied yet. Why not? They were friends, right? Best friends! He had to reply to her! Why would he just leave her on read? There was no typing bubble, so surely he wasn’t even typing out some long reply. He was just… ignoring her? Maybe he didn’t know what to say? Maybe he didn’t think it was important enough to warrant a reply?

_Good. Hope you had fun._

Aha, a reply!

But then again, it didn’t sound particularly friendly, did it? Oh, was Adrien never going to be satisfied? And supposedly _Chlo_ _é_ was the mean one!

 

 

 

 

The next day at school was no picnic. Kim was wearing his new hoodie, sure, but the improvement to his appearance was minimal. As soon as Chloé entered, proudly flaunting the new perfume and bracelets she had bought for herself yesterday, he ran over and latched himself onto her arm.

Well… they were supposed to be a couple, after all. Chloé just gritted her teeth and dealt with it. At least Kim hadn’t yet done any exercise today, so there was no sweaty body odour to deal with for the moment. She should be thankful for that. And plus, _Adrien_ was over there. Perhaps if he saw her bonding with her new boyfriend, he would finally believe her niceness.

The remainder of the day was just as unpleasant. Kim wanted to share his food with Chloé at lunch – some greasy sandwich, honestly! She would never be caught dead eating something so disgusting! Rather than outright dismissing him as she ordinarily would have done, she thanked him and took half of the sandwich, before turning and promptly stuffing it at the bottom of her bag to be dealt with later. She could always get Jean-whatever to clean that up later.

Catching Adrien alone near the end of the day, having practically run out of the classroom while Kim was still talking to Max about something, she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the empty locker room.

“What do you want, Chlo?”

He was rubbing his forehead, sounding tired. Perhaps he was ill? Had a headache? In that case that would explain why he seemed so unenthusiastic about Chloé’s extra-nice behaviour recently. Poor thing must have been too sick to notice.

“Adrikins, what do you think of me?” she asked. There was no point wasting any time. They were best friends, she could ask him things like this outright. “Haven’t I been such a nice person lately?”

“Um, I guess?”

He wasn’t looking convinced. Time to pull out all the stops.

“Then why do you seem so disapproving? You like Kim, right? Surely you don’t object to me saying yes to him? Wasn’t that nice of me?”

Adrien frowned at her. “Did you only say yes to him because you thought it would impress me?”

“What? No!” Chloé was an excellent liar, of course. Her father, the _mayor of Paris_ , hadn’t got as far as he had by telling the truth all the time.

“Well alright, if you say so…”

“I took him shopping yesterday! That new hoodie he’s wearing, did you see that? That was because of me! He looks far better now. I can’t have my boyfriend wearing ugly clothes.”

“Chloé, I really don’t have time for this.”

Adrien, on the other hand, was a pretty bad liar. She knew perfectly well he just wanted to get away from her. But why? They were friends! They had pinkie-promised to be best friends forever! She couldn’t imagine a world where they were apart!

But when he just sighed and pushed past her without another word, she began to think twice. Was her friendship with Adrien really breaking apart? Even after she was trying so hard?

Oh, never mind. Surely he would come around eventually. For now, she had to go find Kim again and force herself to be even nicer to him. A dinner date, perhaps? That wouldn’t be too unbearable, right? As long as she took him somewhere sufficiently fancy and made sure he didn’t order anything gross. Kim was a sappy fool, he would love something like that. And plus, he was a show-off. He would tell everyone how nice and amazing Chloé was being, and then Adrien would see.

Yes, that was a good idea! Feeling proud of her fantastic mind, Chloé began walking towards the exit of the locker room – only to feel someone grabbing her shoulder and turning her around rather more forcefully than she would have liked. She found herself staring right into the eyes of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“What do you think you’re playing at, Chloé?”

For a few seconds Chloé stood frozen on the spot. Marinette’s bright blue eyes seemed to be drilling right into her, as if trying to attack her.

It had been a while since Chloé and Marinette had last spoken. Now that Chloé was being nice, she simply refused to interact with her. Marinette had a habit of igniting the worst in Chloé – an angry, burning, passionate side. A side that she had decided to lock away for now.

And there was jealousy, too. That much couldn’t be hidden. Marinette was supposedly “nice” – everyone in the class seemed to think so, and especially Adrien. Marinette had everyone wrapped around her finger without even needing to try. She didn’t buy anyone expensive presents, she didn’t have to work to gain Adrien’s approval, and she certainly didn’t have to agree to dating a boy she didn’t love just to get everyone to take her kindness seriously!

Marinette was just _perfect_. She was everything Chloé tried to be, yet failed. Perfectly pretty, but without all the expensive maintenance effort. Perfectly smart, without needing to point out everyone else’s shortcomings to make her seem better in comparison. Perfectly popular, and without using money to win her way at all! How did she do it?

And now the girl herself was standing right in front of Chloé, glaring at her, one hand still clenched around the fabric of her jacket. Oh drat. Surely this could only mean an argument was coming. Chloé had made up her mind to avoid arguments from now on, but having Marinette in close proximity just _did_ something to her.

“What’s wrong?” Chloé asked.

“You can cut the goody-two-shoes act,” Marinette snapped. “You might have fooled Adrien, but you haven’t fooled me. I know you’re just doing all this to make him happy. Not because you want to.”

“How do you know that?” Chloé retorted, before realizing her tone was rather snappier than it should be. More softly, she continued. “I’m trying to be nice because I want to show everyone that I’m a good person! You know, like you!”

Whoops. The last bit had been a slip of the tongue. Being civil to Marinette was something Chloé wanted to do, but blatantly calling her a good person? That might just have been a little _too_ nice.

Marinette herself seemed surprised at that, though that look of fierce determination quickly returned. Chloé had never really bothered to observe Marinette properly during their previous clashes. Now, however, she allowed herself a moment to take it in. Marinette’s face seemed somewhat chubbier than usual when she was frowning so much. And the way her furrowed eyebrows caused her eyes to narrow… those were some rather well-done eyebrows, she had to admit.

“There’s more to being a good person than just sucking up to people,” Marinette said finally. She loosened her grip on Chloé’s jacket slightly. “And anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something else too. Kim.”

“Well what about him?”

Marinette clenched that fist again. The fabric of Chloé’s jacket moved slightly, brushing against her skin more delicately than it ought to have done. She found herself unexpectedly taking in a rather sharp breath.

“He’s my friend,” Marinette said. “And I don’t appreciate you playing with his heart like this.”

At the mention of the word “heart”, Chloé noticed her own beating rather speedily. Surely that couldn’t be the adrenaline rush of an oncoming argument, could it? She didn’t want to argue with Marinette. But this was how she _always_ felt around her. It had been a while, and it felt unusual to feel it again.

Wait… what had Marinette said? Playing with Kim’s heart…

“What do you mean?” Chloé asked her.

“If you’re not actually into him then don’t string him along like this, you’ve already broken his heart enough times! Just leave him alone.”

Marinette had moved a little closer to make her point clearer, her face now very close. It was just making that adrenaline, arguing rush worse. Chloé did not want to argue! That was the last thing she wanted! Then why was her heart trying to convince her otherwise? Couldn’t it just slow down and beat normally, like a regular person?

She noticed that Marinette was staring at her expectantly. Why did those eyes always have to be so determined? So focused? Chloé gulped and tried to get her mind working again. The most important thing – no arguing. If she could be nice to Marinette, she could be nice to anyone.

“Of course I like Kim,” she said. “I didn’t want to turn the poor darling down again.”

“You actually like him? Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Chloé hoped Marinette would not find out that she was lying. That would just result in more arguments. As it was, Chloé’s heart was still picking up speed, and seemed to jump right into her throat when Marinette suddenly let go of her jacket.

“Fine,” she said. “I’ll take your word for it. But if I find out that you’ve done anything bad to my friend Kim, anything bad at all, you won’t be let off so lightly.”

Perhaps Chloé would have been on the verge of arguing again, if her brain didn’t seem to be taking an unexplained spa break right now. Why was being so close to Marinette making her feel so odd? Sure, it always had done, but it had been a while and Chloé was such a different person now. Had nothing changed at all?

And as for Marinette, well… threatening Chloé into being nice to Kim (which she already was doing, of course!) did not seem nice, not one little bit. Yet Marinette was still considered one of the nicest members of the class without even trying. How? And how was she such close friends with Kim? Kim was such a troublemaker! He never had any problem being a jerk. So why did Marinette tolerate someone like him, and yet not Chloé?

“Stop staring at me like that,” Marinette said.

Chloé dropped her eyes quickly, her face feeling hot. Why had she been doing that?

Without another word, Marinette turned and left. Chloé tried to keep her eyes focused on the floor, but they drifted upwards until they were fixating on Marinette’s bouncy hair ribbons, getting further and further away, until they were through the door and out of sight.

Chloé let out a breath she hadn’t even known she was holding. Feeling oddly weak, she leaned back against the row of lockers and slid slowly to the floor. Her heart was still beating rapidly. Her palms were getting sweaty and she wiped them on her leggings, hoping her perfume would be enough to mask any possible smell.

What had that been about? She hadn’t even argued with Marinette. She hadn’t even _wanted_ to. So then why was she still feeling so full of adrenaline? Like she just wanted so badly to do… well… something! But _what?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm surprised how many people already like this after just one chapter, so anyway, have another one! <3 (POV is probably gonna alternate between Chloe and Kim, so chapters will be Chlonette, then Kimax, then Chlonette, etc)

Kim did not notice Chloé rushing out of the classroom after Adrien at top speed that day. He ordinarily would have – he used to always spend far too much effort paying attention to her, wondering if now was a good time to ask her out, but it didn’t matter anymore. Oddly enough, he hadn’t really thought about her at all throughout the second half of the day. Was that supposed to happen? Once you successfully managed to ask your crush out, was it okay if they weren’t on your mind so much anymore?

“You know, Kim,” Max said next to him as they were packing their things away, “I’ve been meaning to ask you all day – is that cologne I smell?”

Kim had pretty much forgotten about that too. He had only really put it on for Chloé, since she was nice enough to pick it out for him yesterday, but she hadn’t commented on it today at all. He had been thinking about not bothering to wear it anymore. Maybe she had changed her mind and didn’t like it now or something, so there was really no point.

“Yeah, it is,” he replied.

“Oh. It’s nice.”

“Nice?”

“Yes. I like it.”

Kim looked over to see Max smiling at him. Huh… Max liked it? Well, maybe the cologne wasn’t a total waste of money after all. Max was smart, after all, ridiculously smart. If he thought the cologne was nice then it absolutely must be. Kim always trusted Max’s judgement.

“Thank you,” he said. “Chloé was the one who suggested it.”

Max’s smile fell, and he turned away to pick up his bag. What was wrong?

“Are you okay?” Kim asked. Max being upset, even slightly, always unsettled him.

“I’m fine,” Max replied. “I just wanted to ask you something else too.” He turned to face Kim, a frown on his face now. “Kim, are you happy?”

Kim just blinked, taken aback. What kind of random question was that?

“Of course I’m happy,” he said finally.

“I meant, are you happy with Chloé?”

Another weird question. Of course was happy with Chloé! He’d liked her for ages, so much he’d even been akumatized over it, and now she liked him back! Right? What was there to not be happy about?

“I sure am!” he said. But even as he spoke the words, he felt an odd pang of something deep in his stomach. Almost like he was lying. But he wasn’t lying! He really did mean it! How could he not be happy when _Chloé Bourgeois_ was his girlfriend? It was the coolest thing ever.

It seemed to satisfy Max, at least. He smiled again and said, “Good. I’m happy for you.”

That was so sweet. Max was forever being supportive and helpful, and seeing him smile was so worth it. Kim almost felt bad about never being able to be quite so helpful in return, no matter how much he tried.

“I couldn’t have done it without your help,” he said, feeling even happier when he saw Max’s smile growing. “You planned all that stuff for Valentine’s Day, and you always supported me the whole time, and now it’s paid off, so uh…” He lowered his voice, aware that other students were around. “Need me to return the favour and help set you up with some cute guy?”

Max’s smile disappeared again – no! Had Kim said something wrong? He was just trying to be supportive, as always!

“Thank you for the offer, Kim. But I don’t think that’s something you can help me with.”

“What? Why not?”

“Just trust me.”

And then Max walked off, a smile back on his face, but one that wasn’t even remotely genuine. Why did Max not want Kim to be his wingman? Plenty of ideas ran through Kim’s overactive mind. Maybe Max had a crush on Chat Noir or some other unattainable celebrity. Maybe he just didn’t want Kim, the hopeless disaster, accidentally ruining his chances. Maybe he just wasn’t into anyone right now. Maybe he had a crush on someone straight or otherwise already taken. Maybe–

Kim’s phone buzzed. He checked it to see a message from Chloé.

_I suggest a dinner date tonight, 8 o clock sharp, meet me at the hotel, DON’T BE LATE._

A date? An actual date, and not just a shopping trip? Yes! This was going to be awesome! A real date with a cute girl! He had wanted something like that for as long as he could remember, and now it was finally happening.

But wait… a date with Chloé Bourgeois, the richest, most fashionable girl around. A dinner date. At the most prestigious hotel in Paris.

A fancy date. Uh-oh.

Kim picked up his bag and ran off out of the classroom, hoping to chase down his friend. “MAAAAAAX!!! I NEED YOUR HELP WITH SOMETHING I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING…”

 

 

 

Just past 8 o clock that evening, Kim having made it on time, he sat opposite Chloé in the centre of the hotel’s restaurant. Being in the centre of the room and therefore the centre of everyone’s attention was usually exactly what Kim wanted, but for once he was not liking it. Chloé was a rather fickle, hard-to-please person, and what if he messed up? Everyone would see!

At least with Max’s help he’d managed to make a good start. Chloé had not complained about the stiff jacket-thing he was wearing that he had found at the back of his wardrobe, and he was wearing more of that cologne that Max liked, and had put more gel in his hair than usual. He even had given Chloé another bouquet of flowers, which she had promptly given straight to her butler. Of course he knew you couldn’t buy a girl’s love with presents, but Chloé _liked_ material possessions, right? So maybe flowers and chocolates were a good thing. After all, if Kim was a girl and if some cute guy bought him presents, he would love that!

Chloé herself had dressed up too, wearing a very pretty blue evening gown that looked almost too fancy for a place like this, even if this was the most expensive restaurant in Paris. Hmm… hopefully she would be okay with paying for him. He wasn’t exactly rich enough to be able to afford this.

“What would you like to eat?” Chloé asked. She wasn’t even looking at him; she was leaning back in her chair and filing her nails.

Kim looked over the menu. He didn’t even understand half the stuff on here! What if he picked something weird, and Chloé judged him for it? Knowing his luck, that definitely would happen…

“Spaghetti,” he said finally. That was a safe bet, right? “We can share it. It’ll be like that one scene from that Disney movie!”

He knew that had been the wrong thing to say as soon as the words left his mouth. Chloé’s face had a very sour expression on it indeed. However, she did not say anything about it, instead calling her butler over and telling him their order. Kim tried not to feel too paranoid. That butler had been the same one who got akumatized into that demonic little teddy bear and ruined Chloé’s party a while ago…

“Kim, I really must ask you something.”

Chloé was leaning forward now, having put her nail file away, and looking at him intently with those icy blue eyes of hers. It was a little startling – Chloé very rarely looked at Kim directly.

“You’re friends with Adrien, aren’t you?”

Kim nodded. Adrien was cool, they hung out together sometimes. But why was Chloé asking? For some reason it was making him feel uneasy.

“He doesn’t seem very happy with me recently,” she continued. Her voice and expression seemed softer now, devoid of the usual haughtiness. “I don’t know what’s wrong. Has he ever said anything to you about me?”

This was the last thing he had expected. Chloé was usually so sure that everyone loved her, even though it was probably untrue. But now she was worried? Kim had never really seen her like this.

“No, he hasn’t,” he replied.

“Oh… It’s just that, as you’ve noticed, I have been trying to… _improve myself_ lately. Being kinder, all of that. But Adrien doesn’t seem to have noticed the change.”

“What, really? But you’re way nicer now!”

“Exactly! I am, aren’t I?”

“Yeah! I haven’t heard you say anything mean for ages, and you took me shopping yesterday, and now you invited me to dinner and stuff – that’s super nice of you!”

“Yes, it is!” The haughtiness had returned to her face, and she was smiling triumphantly. Kim recoiled slightly – oddly enough, he preferred her when she was being softer. Part of him wasn’t even sure how he had managed to fall for her before she had started being nicer. Maybe he just saw the potential in her without realizing it or something? Or maybe he was just a bad judge of character.

The food arrived and Kim quickly dug in. This expensive stuff really did taste good, he had to admit. His mind was pushing all sorts of cheesy scenarios on him – the couple both ending up eating the same string of spaghetti at a time and kissing, all that sort of thing that he secretly daydreamed about and told no one. But Chloé was cutting the ends of her spaghetti off with a knife before eating them, so there was no chance of that right now.

They ate in relative silence. What was Kim even supposed to talk to Chloé about? He had always wanted a girlfriend to go on dinner dates with, but never really thought this far ahead. Much like everything else in life, really. Thinking things through was not his strong point. But seriously, there just had to be something they could both discuss.

“Is Marinette your friend?” Chloé asked suddenly. Usually Kim would have been happy to talk about Marinette, but he knew that Chloé didn’t like her much, and her tone was certainly rather cold.

“Yeah, she is,” he said, making sure to gulp down any food first before speaking. Chloé was not a fan of bad manners.

“I simply don’t understand it. How did you two become friends?”

Kim shrugged. “I dunno, we just… always have been friends, I guess.”

“So like Adrien and I?”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Right, I see…” Chloé nodded, twirling spaghetti around her fork absent-mindedly. “Do you think Marinette approves of your interest in me?”

What was it about everyone asking weird questions today? The answer was probably no, but did it really matter? Marinette was a friend, not a parental guardian, and Kim could do what he wanted!

“And do you think she approves of some of your less-than-thoughtful behaviour?” Chloé continued, her chin resting on her hand now, those chilling blue eyes boring right into him. “Challenging panthers to races, making fun of people unnecessarily, constantly hung up on me despite me having already clearly turned you down several times?”

Okay, _ouch_. Maybe Chloé hadn’t meant for that to be mean, but it still hurt. He took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to reply to something like that. This was _not_ how he’d imagined a dinner date going.

“I know I’m kind of an idiot,” he said slowly. “And sometimes I do stuff without thinking. But like, I’m _trying_ not to do that anymore, okay? And Marinette knows it.”

“So she is still your friend because, despite your past actions, you have been trying to make up for it and she appreciates that.”

“Yeah.”

Chloé scowled. “Then why doesn’t Adrien do the same thing with me?”

Oh, so that was what this was about. She wasn’t just ripping into him for no reason. Thank goodness.

“Maybe he just needs more time,” he suggested. “I mean, no offence, but even when I was a jerk I wasn’t like a _huge_ jerk or anything, so Marinette didn’t really care that much, but you were more like… um…” He stopped before saying the word _bully_.

“You’re right,” Chloé said. “He does need more time. I just need to be patient. He’ll see soon enough what a kind, generous person I am. You’ll tell him, won’t you? How I took you to dinner and paid for your meal?”

So she was going to pay? Kim breathed a sigh of relief. “Sure, I’ll tell him.”

“Good.” Her lips curled into a rather sinister smile. For some reason something just seemed… _off_. About everything. But what?

 

They finished their meal in more silence, then Chloé accompanied Kim back down to the hotel entrance to say goodbye.

“I hope that meal was satisfactory,” she said, barely even looking at him.

“Yeah, the food was really good.”

He wasn’t lying. The food was great. The rest of the date, on the other hand… well, he had always expected dates to be somewhat more magical than that. Maybe his expectations had just been too high. Hopefully things would get better later.

“And thanks for paying,” he said quickly, since Chloé didn’t seem to be saying anything else. She was standing there half leaning against the wall, arms crossed, that glittery blue dress catching the light.

Objectively, she was very pretty. He had always known that. It probably contributed to that fact that he had wanted to ask her out ever since first meeting her, before realizing what a personality she had (and yet deciding to ignore that). For the first time, though, he wondered… was that the _only_ reason he liked her?

No way – he quickly pushed that thought out of his head. He wasn’t that shallow, of course he wasn’t. Just because he had one not-so-great date and a lot of bad experiences with her, it didn’t mean he didn’t like her!

Max’s question popped back into his head. _Kim, are you happy?_

It was almost like Max was psychic or something, being able to tell something was wrong before even Kim noticed it. Honestly, it was heartwarming. But now was not the time to be thinking about Max. Now was the time to remember why he liked Chloé, and maybe trying to salvage this date in the few seconds before it ended.

“You’re welcome,” Chloé said, with an air of disinterest. Why was she so bored? Why was she _always_ bored? Was Kim just… not trying hard enough or something? Not being romantic enough? He had toned it down, guessing Chloé probably wouldn’t like it, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe he needed to do the opposite.

“Um… Chloé?”

“Yes, what is it? You need me to pay for a taxi or something?”

“No! No, nothing like that, it’s just…” He ran a hand through his hair, feeling kind of idiotic. “Are we meant to kiss now?”

Chloé winced. “No offence, Kim, but certainly not.”

“Oh, okay, I was just wondering…”

He had been expecting to feel disappointed. All his life he had been dreaming about the perfect first date, ending with a sweet kiss. But oddly enough, he felt nothing. Was that normal? In a way, he was almost relieved. No chances of messing up or being bad at it if he didn’t actually have to do it. Chloé probably had lipstick on anyway, he wouldn’t want to ruin that.

“I guess I’ll see you at school,” he said, turning to leave.

“Goodbye. Oh, and Kim!” She finally looked at him properly, the uncharacteristic nervousness from before returning suddenly. “Don’t take it personally. I… don’t like kissing boys.”

“Fair enough.”

Some people just weren’t into kissing, it was fine. He smiled and walked out of the doors. Once he was a good way down the street he pulled out his phone and dialled Max’s number.

“Kim! How did it go?”

Oh, the relief of hearing Max’s voice! One of the few things always guaranteed to put him at ease, no matter what. Kim could just _sense_ his brain relaxing, his body untensing. A good long chat with Max was just what he needed.

“It was okay,” he said.

“Are you sure?”

Max was an expert at knowing when Kim was holding something back, wasn’t he? “Fine, it wasn’t that great,” he admitted.

“Let me guess: you two don’t seem to have much in common and therefore not much to talk about.”

“But that doesn’t mean anything!” Kim said hastily. “I mean, how different are the two of us? But I can always just talk to you about anything anyway!”

His heart gave an odd twinge as he said it. There were a few seconds of silence before Max replied.

“So then what was the problem?”

“I… I don’t know. Something just doesn’t feel right. But like, it was only the first date. It’ll get better later, right?”

“Perhaps it will. Trust your instincts.”

Kim laughed. “Are you really telling me, the panther-challenger, to trust my instincts?”

Max laughed too – oh, it was always so nice to hear him laugh. Very few other people could make him laugh the way Kim did, and it was something he was fiercely proud of.

“Oh Kim, I really don’t know what to tell you! There are so many variables. It could simply have been a bad date. Perhaps your expectations were too high or too different. Perhaps you and Chloé are incompatible somehow, through no fault of your own, just something that can happen. If I’m being honest, she really does not seem particularly enthusiastic about her relationship with you.”

That was true. Kim had been trying to ignore it, but he couldn’t any longer.

“I thought I just wasn’t being romantic enough,” he said. “But I don’t think that’s the issue either.”

“Kim, are you happy?”

That question again. Was he happy? Of course he was! He was dating Chloé Bourgeois, the girl he’d had a crush on for ages, alright so their first date wasn’t exactly great, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t happy. Right…?

“No,” he said quietly.

“Then _trust your instincts_. Talk to Chloé about it. If you think something’s off, you may be right.”

Wow. How was Max so good at advice? He always knew what to do, always knew the best way to comfort Kim.

“Thanks,” Kim said, hoping Max would be able to hear the smile on his face through his voice alone. “You’re so awesome. And like… I know I’m not good at this stuff. But seriously, if you want me to be wingman for you, I swear I’ll try, ‘cause I gotta do something in return…”

“You really don’t have to, it’s fine. I don’t have any chance with the boy I like so all I really need to do is move on.”

“What? But why? Anyone would be lucky to have you! Whoever this dude is, I’ll convince him!”

“Just leave it, Kim.”

He could have sworn he heard Max’s voice cracking slightly. Oh, poor thing… time to change the subject.

“I haven’t done my homework yet, will it take long?” Kim said quickly.

“Hopefully it shouldn’t, though if you need any help with it then just let me know and I’ll do my best – that being said you were good at this topic the last time I went over it with you so…”

Ah, that was better. Max talking about nerdy stuff was always the best outcome. He was happy, Kim was content to listen and try to absorb some knowledge so that he could be smart too, and nothing in the universe was wrong. Kim listened to Max’s voice all the way home, his mood lifting considerably.


	3. Chapter 3

Chloé did not usually spend time in the library. Why would she, when there was nothing interesting to do here? But today she sat here at a table with Sabrina, looking down at the work in front of her, trying to get her brain into action so that she could actually do this. Oh, it would be so much easier to just tell Sabrina to do it and then spend this valuable time touching up her manicure instead! Sabrina deserved a little break, though.

“Shouldn’t you be hanging out with Kim?” Sabrina asked her, barely even looking up from her work.

“Kim has football practice,” Chloé replied. She was very aware of the fact that Sabrina had become far more outspoken lately, ever since Chloé had started treating her better. Much less of a pushover, much more likely to speak her mind. Interestingly enough, Chloé _liked_ it. What she didn’t like as much, however, was the way Sabrina quite obviously tried to spend as little time with her as possible.

“So you’ll go hang out with him later?”

“I suppose…”

Hanging out with Kim was somewhat tedious. Adrien was never there to see her, and faking being in love was exhausting, even if Kim was nice enough to give her as much space as she demanded of him. But if she broke up with him now, when it hadn’t been very long yet, everyone would surely go back to thinking of her as mean and selfish, like they always used to. It had been hard enough changing her entire personality this far.

The library door opened. Needing a distraction from this mind-numbing work, Chloé looked up to see who it was.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She furiously lowered her eyes again, imploring her brain to just focus on these numbers already. She and Marinette were civil now. They were civil! No more enmity, no more arguing! Those days were over!

Almost involuntarily, out of the corner of her eye, she watched as Marinette strode into the room. Stopping for a moment in the centre now, looking around for a space to sit down. Chloé’s breath caught in her throat as Marinette turned towards _her_ –

And then turned away again, deciding to sit somewhere else.

Chloé exhaled. But the torment was not over. As much as she glared down at her piece of paper, her eyes still snapped upwards to watch Marinette through her lashes, until she was out of sight again behind some bookshelf.

Phew… that had been odd. It was getting hard to ignore how hyper-aware she was of Marinette these days, every movement far across the classroom catching her attention, every sound of her voice bringing heat to Chloé’s face, every mention of her name sending her pulse speeding.

Things were _unfinished_ between them, that was what. They had never quite had a proper heart-to-heart discussion over everything that had gone down between them over the past several years, never truly sorted out their differences. That must be what Chloé’s stupid brain was trying to remind her of. Why the thought of speaking to Marinette again was sending shot after shot of adrenaline right through her veins.

“You alright, Chloé?”

She turned to see Sabrina staring at her in concern. Her first instinct was to snap at her, just like she would have always done, but she gulped it down. No more bossing Sabrina around. They were equals now. Perhaps not in status or wealth, but Sabrina was a person just like any other.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just rather unaccustomed to working in the library.”

“Or working at all,” Sabrina muttered under her breath. Chloé resisted the urge to snap at her again. It was kind of true, after all.

“Sabrina, I would like to ask you a question.”

“Of course.”

Chloé looked around, making sure no one else was close enough to overhear, and especially not Marinette. “Hypothetically speaking, judging by my actions, do you think I love Kim?”

“Hmm. Hypothetically speaking, not really.”

“And why is that?”

“You don’t seem to actually _like_ him. Even as a friend.”

“And do you think this is the reason why Adrien is still annoyed at me?”

“Maybe.”

Sabrina was still holding back, Chloé was sure of that. Perhaps years of expecting her to hide her opinions and just agree with whatever Chloé was saying would be hard to stop doing. But at least she was being honest enough to help out a little.

“So I need to be more friendly with Kim…” She sat back in her chair, tapping her pen against the side of her cheek in thought. “Yes, I can do that. Certainly.”

“Good for you.”

“Oh, and Sabrina, for the record that was all purely hypothetical. Of course I love Kim.”

“Yes. Of course you do.”

Sabrina’s tone hadn’t changed at all. Then how on earth did she sound sarcastic?!

Chloé just gritted her teeth and looked back at her work. She had to get this done at some point and she was certainly smart enough to, but right now she simply was not in the mood for it. She was in the mood for making friends with Kim. And a particular idea had come into her head – a very risky one, and one that might backfire spectacularly. It really depended on how much she trusted Kim.

Did she trust him? Well, he certainly did like her a lot. He was usually very nice to her. As far as she knew, he was open-minded. So far all he had been trying to do was make her happy.

But this… this plan could change all that. If it went well, it would be great. But if it went wrong, if Kim didn’t take things well, if anyone else found out… that would be it for Chloé’s reputation. In so many ways.

She had about an hour to think about it before she was supposed to meet up with Kim. At least here there was nothing to distract her, nothing to put her off her task, nothing to–

“Oh hey Alya! Yeah I’m working on that too, this project is so hard… sure I can help…”

Marinette!

From the sounds of it she was talking on the phone. Her voice had lowered now, that hyperactive dork probably had remembered she was in a library of all places, but the distant murmurs were still audible.

Chloé tried to think about her plan again. She tried so, very hard. But Marinette’s voice kept worming its way into her ears and lodging itself in her brain. She couldn’t even hear the individual words, but that didn’t seem to make a difference. It was too distracting.

Sighing, she looked at Sabrina. “May I borrow a pair of headphones?”

“Sure.”

Her brain was fuzzy. She took the headphones Sabrina handed to her and simply put them over her ears without even bothering to plug them into her phone. It wasn’t music she wanted, it was silence. Oh, these headphones were probably making her look so ugly…

 

 

An hour later she had left the library and was back in Kim’s company, trying to endure the journey back to the hotel without grumbling too much. Despite having spent the hour mulling things over, she had not yet come to a decision about what to do. Perhaps she’d just have to make up her mind on the spot.

Not right now, though, while other people were around – whether that was their fellow students as they walked through the school and out towards the road, or the chauffeur of Chloé’s limo, or the hotel staff and guests milling about on the way up to Chloé’s room where they would finally have a bit of peace.

Kim was such a chatterbox. All along the way he went on about his football practice, how he was totally the best there by a longshot (which was probably an exaggeration), how he was always the last to leave afterwards due to spending so long redoing his hair (which Chloé really did not want to hear about in detail but was subjected to anyway), how since he always wore the new hoodie Chloé got him, Alix had stolen his old one and given it to _Max_ for some reason (which Chloé did not care about at all).

“Do you ever stop gloating about your mundane life?” Chloé sighed once they were finally in her room, away from any listening ears. She knew it hadn’t been a very nice thing to say. But her risky plan was still on her mind and seemed to be stifling the part of her brain that reminded her to be somewhat decent to people.

“Sorry,” Kim said, slightly more quietly. “I never really know what else to talk to you about.”

Hmm, true. There wasn’t exactly any reason for bringing Kim up here at all, since there wasn’t much he would be interested in doing, and all that was left was… talking.

(Or _romantic things_. But the thought of getting closer than arm’s length to any boy other than Adrien was just so awfully vile, she certainly wasn’t having that.)

That plan was still simmering away in her head. Dare she go for it? Chloé Bourgeois was never exactly nervous about talking to people, no matter the subject, but this was stressing her out more than she cared to admit. Maybe it would be better to forget about that for now – focus on being nice. Being _friendly_. That was what she had told Sabrina, right? She would make proper friends with Kim.

Clearing her throat, she announced, “I apologize for what I did to you on Valentine’s Day.”

There. That was plenty nice, wasn’t it? She glanced over at him to see his startled expression. There was a silence that seemed far too long – oh come on, surely she couldn’t have somehow messed up a simple apology?

“It’s fine,” Kim said finally, an apprehensive little smile on his face.

He was hiding something. Chloé leaned forward in her seat and looked right at him, trying to figure it out. Usually she preferred not to look at him too directly – his hair and eyebrows were too ridiculous for her to take seriously.

“I really do mean it,” she said, not quite sure herself whether she was lying or not. She wouldn’t humiliate Kim like that again, that was for sure. But honestly, him attempting to buy a date from her with that snazzy brooch when she was clearly disinterested had always annoyed her, not to mention her secretly wondering if he was only going after her because she was _rich_ , and it wasn’t like he had ever bothered to get to know her properly first. Turning him down was not something she regretted in the slightest.

“I said it’s fine,” Kim said, his fake-smile gone. “Don’t worry about that. Let’s just talk about something else.”

Oh, so that was it. He didn’t like thinking about it. To be fair, very few people liked thinking about events that got them akumatized. Chloé herself still had to blink away tears on occasion when thinking about how Ladybug had dismissed her that one day, and what with the little sleep she’d had due to her feud with Sabrina and Vanisher’s subsequent tormenting, felt alone without a friend in the world.

Oddly enough, though, things did seem a bit… lighter now.

She couldn’t quite place it. But now thinking back to Valentine’s Day, rejecting Kim on that bridge, it just felt… not quite so bad to think about. Kim knew now she was sorry for it. Why did that make her feel good? Fake apologies never usually changed anything for her.

“Now what?” Kim asked, breaking the silence that had settled between them again.

Chloé didn’t even know what to suggest. The only possible course of action her own brain was throwing at her was the risky plan! Should she even go ahead with it? Was now a good time? Was there _ever_ a good time for such things?

“You got any video games or anything?”

Video games, pffffff, she would just go visit Adrien if she ever, for some absurd reason, had the craving to do such a pointless activity… Anyway, now back to the plan… He would figure it out at some point, wouldn’t he? She couldn’t hide something like this from a _boyfriend_ for very long, even if that boyfriend was someone as thick-headed as Lê Chiến Kim!

“I guess we could always do homework or something, unless you finished yours already…”

It would be better to just get it out of the way sooner rather than later, the longer she waited to more difficult and painful this would be. But it would break his heart, and that was a mean thing! She was working so _hard_ not to be mean now, and she was going to break his heart again, maybe even worse than the first time considering how she’d been stringing him along just like Marinette had told her she had and _oh god no don’t think about Marinette right now_ –

“I’m a lesbian, Kim!”

_Crap._

Chloé snapped her hands over her mouth. It had just slipped right out.

Curse Marinette, honestly. The thought of her had completely fried the wiring of Chloé’s brain.

Okay, so she had told Kim. He knew now. Alright, so perhaps it had been a little sudden, a little tactless. But at least she had actually said it now.

She put her hands back down, taking a deep breath, then lifted them again to brush the hair away from her face, only no it wasn’t in her face, that was _sweat_. Ew. She quickly wiped her hands on the fabric of her leggings. Why were they shaking? Oh, those were nerves. She was nervous. Why was she nervous? It was just Kim! But then again, this was the first time she had ever come out to anyone…

Taking another deep breath, so deep it almost triggered a yawn, she braced herself and took a look at Kim to see his reaction.

“Oh. Cool.”

He just finger-gunned at her, gave her a casual smile, and went right back to fiddling with his hoodie strings.

Seriously?

Was that _seriously_ his reaction?

“I said I’m a _lesbian_ , Kim. Let me repeat that. Lesbian.”

“Good for you. So anyway, about the homework–”

“LESBIAN. Me. I am a woman, who likes other woman.”

He grinned. “I know what it means, Chloé.”

“So you’ll realize that it means I like women _exclusively_. Not men. I told you the other day I don’t like kissing boys, right? It’s because I like girls. In a gay way.”

“Awesome, and I totally agree with you that girls are great.”

How was he so unfazed about it? Out of every reaction that she could have prepared for, she never expected _this_.

“You didn’t already guess, did you?” she asked, her teeth clenched. Surely someone with as few brain cells as Kim could not have figured out something that she herself had taken long enough to come to terms with, could he? And if he already knew, yet _had asked her out anyway–_

“Nah, I had no idea,” he replied. “I just thought you were straight. ‘Cause like, you always used to hang out with Adrien all the time and I thought maybe you were into him, and then you said yes when I asked you out the other day, so then I… wait…”

Finally, an actual reaction. It was almost possible to pinpoint the exact moment when it hit him.

“Wait a second!” he yelped, leaping to his feet. “But if _you’re_ a lesbian, and _I’m_ a dude, then… this doesn’t… it’s not…”

“This is exactly why I decided to tell you,” Chloé said. The nerves were returning. If Kim flipped out about it, or if he told anyone, Hawk Moth might as well just akumatize her right now. Her life would be over. Even worse, her good reputation would be over.

Kim just turned to face her. “How long have you known?!”

“A few months maybe. So yes, I did already know when I said yes to you.”

Part of her felt like explaining, but it all seemed so shallow now. She had said yes to Kim to impress Adrien, but Adrien would never be impressed unless Chloé and Kim actually became close, and due to the aforementioned incompatible orientations, a friendship would be the best course of action, but in order not to lead Kim on she now had to come out to him and admit she had basically lied to him…

“So you were using me as a cover.” He was still standing there, now frowning and tapping his chin in thought. It was impossible to tell whether he was upset or not.

“Sort of.” Chloé was not sure what this unpleasant feeling deep in her stomach was, but she suspected it was possibly _guilt_ , and she very much did not like it.

“Well… yeah, that makes a lot more sense now.” His frown lifted. “I kinda thought something was off, to be honest.”

“Really?” Her spirits lifted a tad.

“Yeah. I was talking to Max about it too. Like, maybe you’d just said yes to be nice or something.”

“So you’re not upset?”

He shrugged, looking just as puzzled as she felt. “I… guess not? I mean… you’re nice these days, so like… you must have had your reasons to do it…”

“I’ll admit, I was just doing it to be nice,” she said, not bothering to mention Adrien for now. “But if I have caused you any sudden heartbreak with my actions, I apologize for that.”

Kim scratched the back of his head. “Um, it’s weird, but I’m not mad, I promise. Maybe later it’ll hurt. I don’t know. Right now I’m fine.”

“Oh, that’s strange. But reassuring. I’m glad I won’t have to deal with an akuma villain chasing after me.”

His eyes narrowed momentarily at the mention of akuma villains, but quickly snapped back to normal. “So does this mean I’m not your boyfriend anymore?”

“I suppose it would be rather pointless for you, a boy, to continue to knowingly date a lesbian. However…” Now came the hard part. She really hadn’t thought this through. “…you could always still pretend to.”

He frowned for a few seconds, processing the thought.

“So I… pretend to be your boyfriend. So that no one knows you’re gay. And everyone still thinks you’re nice.”

“If that’s alright with you.” Thank goodness he had cottoned onto the plan so quickly. She had been expecting to have to painstakingly explain the whole thing to him step-by-step, considering how he got on in class and how often she’d heard Max going over ridiculously simple concepts with him.

Kim grinned rather suddenly. “That sounds kinda fun.”

Ohhhh no. He was going to treat it like one of his challenges, wasn’t he?

“You know, I really am surprised how well you took this,” she said. “I was worried you would end up crying or something.”

“Hey, it’s fine, I mean we were barely a couple anyway. Only a few days and nothing really happened. I think I hugged you like… once? And you didn’t even let me hold your hand, so…”

“You are still not allowed to hold my hand,” Chloé said hastily, shuddering at the thought. “And only be your hopelessly lovey-dovey self when in public, thank you very much. In private you are to treat me as a friend.”

His face lit up. “So we’re friends?”

She nodded. “Yes. We are friends.”

“Nice!” He stepped forward as if to lean down and hug her, but thankfully stopped a respectful distance away. “So, uh, need me to help set you up with any cute girls?”

“Unless you happen to personally know Ladybug better than I do, then you won’t be able to help me with that.”

Chloé knew her face was going a little red, as it so often did when she thought about Ladybug. Ever since that gorgeous, flawless superhero had saved her from being thrown off the Eiffel Tower, literally holding her tight in her strong arms… oh, Chloé had been smitten. That was the first step towards realizing that she wasn’t as straight as she had previously thought herself to be. Unfortunately, no one in her day-to-day life was anywhere near as attractive as an unattainable superhero, and lowering her standards was simply not an option…

“And what about you?” she continued, shaking herself out of her spotted daydreams. “Any girl you have your eye on?”

“Nah, no one in particular right now. Well I guess… except you… but like…” He rubbed the back of his neck, not quite looking at her. “I’ll get over it. I probably should have a long time ago.”

Judging by how little this was affecting him, it almost seemed like he already was over it! But Chloé held her tongue. Instead she smiled at him, hoping it looked genuine, and said, “Thank you for taking this so well, Kim. Now – I believe you were saying something about homework that needed doing?”

Friends did homework together, didn’t they? Maybe she was getting a little better at this friend thing. The whole being nice thing too, that was coming more naturally now. Thank goodness.

All this progress, and Adrien wasn’t around to see it…

Was he ever going to accept her?

Well, at least Kim had accepted her. And for now, that was good enough.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait - I'm still so surprised how many people like this fic! I should write major-character-centric fics more often haha, anyway enjoy this chapter of Kim being a Disaster Bi

It had been a few days, and Kim still couldn’t understand why his heart wasn’t broken. Chloé had outright told him that she wasn’t interested in him and never would be, right? Despite having pretended to be? Surely that should have hurt him enough to be akumatized again. But it just… _didn’t_.

At least she had allowed him to tell Max everything, and Kim had spent the last few hours lying on Max’s couch, narrating his near-constant train of thought aloud in a bid to try and understand himself.

“This is basically a break-up, Max!” he said, knowing he should shut up and let poor Max have some peace and quiet, but not quite being able to. “She doesn’t love me, she never will. But is it weird that I don’t care? It doesn’t even feel any different being her friend! But she was my girlfriend for like a few days! She lied to me! So why am I not upset? Am I bad person?”

Max sighed and patted Kim’s arm. “Of course not.”

“But I’m so… what’s that word? Fickle? Yeah, that! I’m fickle! I stopped liking Chloé so fast! In fact…” He put his hands over his face, feeling like a total sham. “I think I stopped liking her right after I thought she liked me back. There, I said it!”

“Kim, you’re not fickle. Perhaps you simply had a rather idealized version of Chloé in your head, and therefore lost your feelings for her once you realized that she wasn’t who you thought she was.”

Kim peeked through his fingers a little to see that Max was smiling encouragingly at him. It was enough to calm his brain a little, at least enough to start thinking rationally. Thank goodness he had Max to talk about all this with.

“Or perhaps you simply mistook general affection for attraction,” Max continued, his voice so soothing and logical as always. “After all, you seem to be doing just fine being friends with her. So it could be that you subconsciously convinced yourself that you must be in love with her, merely because you liked her in general and she is objectively quite good-looking. That’s a possibility too.”

Kim finally sat up and just stared at his wonderful, ridiculously smart best friend. “How are you such an expert at stuff like this?”

Max went a little red and looked at the floor. “Well, this sort of thing happened to me a few times before I realized that I was… you know…”

Really? Kim had always assumed that Max must have always known he was gay. Such an intelligent person surely would have been able to make sense of his own feelings faster than anyone else would ever be able to. But had Max really struggled with things like this too?

But wait… that meant…

“Do you think I might be gay too then?” Kim gasped.

“I have no idea, that’s up to you to figure out! Just because things didn’t fall into place with Chloé, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything. You’ll have to think about it yourself.”

Kim nodded, hugging his knees to his chest. _Thinking about things_ was not his strong point. That was why he needed Max, of course.

“But you can always talk to me about things if you would like help, or just someone to listen,” Max said, putting his hand on Kim’s shoulder. “I’m here for you.”

Aww, that was just so sweet. How was Max always just so nice and supportive? Kim turned to thank him, only to be caught unawares by Max’s expression – he was so serious, looking at Kim so intensely, like he truly meant every word he had said.

Kim gulped down the odd bubbly feelings that seemed to be hitting him and buried his face in his knees, trying to think. Had he really ever been in love with Chloé?

Well… it was possible that he really hadn’t been. She was certainly very beautiful, he always did like hanging out with her as long as she wasn’t treating him badly, he had wanted to talk to her more and get to know her better…

Oh. Those were all _friendship_ things.

But he had been akumatized on Valentine’s Day when she had rejected him, right? That must have been to do with love!

No… though it hurt to think about that day, he forced himself to. It hadn’t been to do with love. It was do with _humiliation_.

“I think you’re right,” he mumbled. “I wasn’t in love with Chloé. I was just being stupid…”

“Shhh, you’re not stupid. It’s very common to have fabricated feelings for people, as a result of the aggressively heteronormative society that we have been socialized in.”

Kim did not understand what those long words meant, but it didn’t matter. Max’s tone was putting him at ease. Just like it always did.

“But I don’t think I’m gay,” Kim added. “I’ve never been in love with a dude. At least, I think I haven’t… what does it feel like?”

Max’s voice had a surprising amount of emotion in it. “I really am very bad at expressing abstract feelings in words. But it’s… nice. Fuzzy.”

Huh. That was no help at all. But in any case, Kim was pretty sure he was straight. As long as he could remember, he had only ever been interested in girls. There was no way he was gay.

He lifted his face out of his knees to see that Max’s hand was still on his shoulder. Still confused, he was about to say something else… when he spotted the giant spider on the wall.

“SPIDER!!! SPIDER SPIDER SPIDER–”

He leapt to his feet and scrambled backwards, picking up one of the cushions as he did so to hold in front of him as a shield.

“M-Max there’s a spider over there, kill it, or get it out of here or something, it’s _huge_ –”

“Already on it.”

Max, calm as ever, had stood up and was already rummaging around for something. He got a piece of card and a jar, then walked over to the wall and scooped up the spider with no fear whatsoever. Kim just watched in awe, his face still half hidden behind the cushion. How was Max so brave? Usually Kim was scared of nothing and no one, but when it came to spiders, well…

“There we go,” Max said, letting the spider out of the window and then coming to sit back down. “It’s gone now.” He smiled encouragingly at Kim, not a shred of fear to be seen.

“How… how do you just _do_ that?”

“Do what?”

“Go near spiders!”

Max was looking down now, adjusting his glasses a little self-consciously. “It isn’t an inherently special character trait. I simply don’t have arachnophobia.”

“Arachno-what?”

“Arachnophobia: an irrational fear of spiders and other arachnids.”

Wow. To think Kim had no issue taking on any challenges given to him, racing the quickest speedsters in his class, racing a _panther_ , and yet it was Max who could take on one tiny little spider. Not Kim, the fearless fool. _Max_.

“You’re so brave,” he mumbled, aware that he was still hugging the cushion.

“I’m really not…”

“You are! And you’re really smart too! I don’t even mean that ‘cause you’re good at schoolwork, I mean, you’re so logical and cool and super nice and the coolest friend ever…”

“All these compliments merely because of a spider?” Max asked.

Kim stopped abruptly. Why _was_ he suddenly gushing over Max like that? These were thoughts he always had in his brain, running over and over on repeat whenever he was in Max’s company, but he never usually said them out loud. It seemed that the adrenaline of seeing that spider had knocked out even the tiniest bit of impulse control that he had.

Feeling oddly flustered, he chucked the cushion aside. Why was he still holding that anyway?

“I just… I just don’t tell you enough how awesome you are,” he managed to say, running a hand through his hair.

Seeing Max’s sudden smile hit him with some feeling he couldn’t quite place, though it seemed weirdly familiar. Making Max smile always made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It was nice. Really nice.

Wait a second…

What had Max said before the spider? Hadn’t he said something like that? That being in love with a dude felt… nice? And fuzzy?

Did that mean…?

Kim hastily looked at the ground, his heart beating a thousand times faster than usual. There was no way. Max was his best friend, right? That was how it had always been. He liked him in a totally friendly way. Totally platonic. They were bros. Yeah, just dudes being bros. Friends. Amigos. Pals. Buddies. Chums. Homies.

“Kim, that’s very kind of you to say,” Max was saying, that dazzling smile still on his face. Like the sun, it was almost too bright to look at – at least without Kim’s face heating up so much he was sure he was going to internally combust.

He didn’t have a crush on Max! That was ridiculous. He was straight, he’d already established that. Yeah, it was fun to hang out with Max, and yeah he always looked forward to seeing Max more than anything else, and yeah Max was pretty cute, and yeah maybe Kim sometimes had to resist the urge to stare at him during lessons and wish holding hands was more platonically acceptable in society, and yeah occasionally he had considered that if he had to kiss a guy he would pick Max, and wondering what that would be like…

But – but that didn’t mean anything, did it? Wasn’t that normal?

“Are you alright?”

Max was frowning at him, concerned.

“Y-yeah, of course! I’m just… um…” He took a deep breath. “I have to go.”

“Already?”

“Yep. Got stuff to do. See you later!”

Without even waiting to listen for Max’s reply, Kim made a quick getaway.

 

He needed to think. The only way he could properly do that was walking, or jogging, or running – just being on the go in any way possible. Wandering around the streets of Paris, he tried to get his hyperactive brain to just _focus_ for once and figure this out.

Okay, so he was maybe, _maybe_ , falling for Max. A little bit. Just the thought of it made his head spin. But how could this happen? Max was a guy! And up until now Kim only liked girls!

Or did he…? After all, he had just come to accept the fact that his “crush” on Chloé may not have been a real crush in the first place. But then again, that was just one girl. He’d liked loads of girls before. Too many to count. How many of those were real?

Marinette had certainly been real. Okay, so he had been like 10 at the time when he liked her. But that felt like this, the way he was feeling about Max right now. Chloé hadn’t felt like that. Marinette had. (Not that he would ever tell her, of course – that was such a long time ago. No one could know.)

Others, too. A random girl he often used to see at the bus stop, whose name he didn’t know and never got to find out before she moved away. That one video game character he’d had as his phone background for way too long. A few of his other classmates, as much as he hated to admit it, too worried about being made a witchy sacrifice or kicked in the face with a rollerskate to ever make a move.

Yes… he had felt like this before. Just not with Chloé.

But that just made things more confusing! How could he be falling for Max? How?? Just _how???_

His feet had carried him to Chloé’s hotel without him even realizing. He looked up at the building, wondering if Chloé would mind him venting to her about all this. They were friends now, right? He wanted to talk to her more. And right now, he definitely needed someone to talk to. Usually that person would be Max, but considering the situation…

No, his mind was made up. Chloé was his friend. She would make an excellent confidante.

The doorman, recognizing Kim, let him inside and the butler led him up to Chloé’s room. Chloé herself was wearing an expensive-looking silky robe over her nightgown – it looked like she hadn’t even bothered getting out of bed yet today, despite the fact that it was well into the afternoon.

“Kim, darling! Good to see you!” She smiled at him in a way that he had only really ever seen her use for Adrien before, though she still kept at a distance. “Come in, come in. You arrived at a good time, I’ve only just finished my lunch. Jean-whatever-his-name-is was kind enough to bring it up to my room directly.”

Kim just sat down on the expensive – sofa? chair? thing? – wondering how someone could possibly live such a lavish, lazy lifestyle. He would hate that! Not getting out of bed until the afternoon? Not even for lunch? He learnt more about Chloé every time they hung out.

“So, what’s up?” she said, perching herself on the very edge of the sofa, as far away from him as possible. “You already seem rather quieter than usual. Ordinarily you would already have been bragging about how you punched a lion, or filled Alix’s locker with maggots, or some other far-fetched nonsense. What’ll it be this time?”

As cheery and friendly as Chloé sounded these days, the things she said still stung a little sometimes. Kim just took a deep breath and went for it, hoping she wouldn’t find a way to twist it into something to be laughed at. “I think I like Max.”

Chloé just looked at him for a few seconds, haughty smile still on her face, her head tilted slightly. Then she leaned towards him slightly and said, “Well, well, well. So I’m not the only one who isn’t as straight as I act.”

“But that’s the thing!” Kim said, leaning away a little. Chloé’s chilly blue eyes were somewhat intimidating sometimes. “I _am_ straight.”

Her smile widened. “As far as I’m aware, straight boys don’t have feelings for other boys.”

“I know, I know…” He knew he must be blushing. “But I don’t get it… I can’t be gay! I’ve liked so many girls before! Properly, I mean, not like with you – not that I don’t like you! It’s just…”

“I understand what you mean,” Chloé said, sitting up tall enough to look down her nose at him. “So, who are these girls that you’ve somehow been interested in more than you were with me?”

Kim blushed even harder. “I’m not telling you.”

“Fine, if you say so. But anyway, I understand the feeling of not being straight, so I can… _sympathize_. Yes, that. That’s a nice thing, right?”

Kim shrugged, not wanting to admit that he wasn’t completely sure what that word meant. “But what do I do now?”

“Ask Max out, of course. Would you like me to be your wingwoman? If I do, you’ll let Adrien know, right?”

Was Adrien all she really cared about? Sometimes it really felt that way.

“I can’t just ask Max out,” he said, ignoring how funny it made him feel inside to even be talking about stuff like this. “This is so weird… how can I like a boy? How is this happening? You can’t suddenly switch from liking girls to liking guys, can you?”

Chloé just sighed and shook her head. “Kim, you have the self-introspection skills of a potato. Really, you do. Haven’t you ever heard of bisexuality?”

“…You mean that’s a real thing?”

“Of course it’s real, for goodness’ sake. Aren’t your own emotions living proof of it right now?”

Chloé did not seem to be taking this completely seriously. She was chuckling a little, her hand up in front of her mouth, looking at him ever so condescendingly, like this was all the most obvious thing in the world. It wasn’t exactly pleasant.

But if she was right…

“I don’t know,” he said. “I always liked girls, but Max is the only guy I’ve ever felt like this about.”

“If that’s true, fair enough. But…” She leaned towards him again, a smirk on her face now. “…do you really believe that? You would not _believe_ the number of girls I’ve unknowingly had crushes on in my life. When you don’t know it’s possible, you don’t think about it. And if you don’t think about it, you’ll never know. So think about it, Kim.”

She sat back again, a rather smug smile on her face now, and pulled out a nail file to fiddle with.

_Think about it…_

It was true that he hadn’t realized he was crushing on Max until he actually started considering that maybe he wasn’t as straight as he thought. Could there really have been other guys in his past that he felt that way about too? Just never knowing?

Well… there was Chat Noir. The hot superhero who was surprisingly easy to daydream about. That might be more of a celebrity crush thing, though. Yeah, that didn’t count.

Hmm, there was Adrien, too. He was objectively very, very good-looking. Like, _really_ good-looking. It made sense, since he was a model. And while Kim easily thought of him as a good friend now, it was true that the first few days after meeting him had been… well, Kim at the time had thought of it as a general admiration, maybe mixed with jealousy or something. He hadn’t considered at all that those funny fluttery feelings could be something else. But now that he thought about it…

Oh, shoot. Max was not the first guy Kim had liked after all.

Heck, it probably wasn’t even Adrien. Memories were flooding Kim’s brain now, feelings he had forgotten about or misunderstood, boys he had felt different around but could never put his finger on _why_. The kid he used to play tennis with every week several years ago, the guy who sometimes gave him a discount at the local coffee shop, Juleka’s big brother…

“Dammit,” he muttered. “You… you might be right.”

Chloé placed her hand on his shoulder very, _very_ lightly. “I suppose I am, aren’t I?”

Kim stared at the floor, his face flaming. Things were feeling so weirdly different all of a sudden. “I like guys.”

It felt odd to say.

But kind of… nice. Fuzzy.

“So perhaps you are bi after all,” Chloé said.

Kim nodded. Bi… maybe he really was. It wasn’t even anything he had considered before. This was so much to take in all on one day.

Chloé patted his shoulder, still very softly, then quickly wiped her hand on the side of her robe. “Take your time, have a good think about it. Don’t rush into things like you always do.”

Come on, he didn’t rush into everything, did he? Well alright, maybe he did. But did she really have to say it?!

On the bright side, Chloé’s reaction was proof that she was being a lot nicer now. Even if she was only doing it for Adrien, it was still better than what she would have been like before. She wasn’t perfect, no way. Far from it. But it was a start.

“Thanks, Chloé,” he said. “I’m glad I told you.”

Her smile seemed more genuine now. “I’m always happy to help a friend. And my offer of being wingwoman still stands.”

Honestly, the idea of it seemed ridiculous. Chloé Bourgeois, trying to help him ask out Max! But Kim knew how awful he was when it came to trying to be romantic, and he wouldn’t even know where to start now that the person he was crushing on was a _dude_. He really needed the help.

“That would be great,” he said. “But uh, since I’m still fake-dating you…”

Chloé waved her hand. “Oh whatever, we can always sort that out once we’ve got you and Max all set up. A fake-breakup will be no problem. We need to get there first.”

Thank goodness she knew what she was doing. Welp, he was really going to go for this then? This was going to be so new, in all kinds of ways. Hopefully it wouldn’t backfire terribly.


End file.
